Excellent job I learned so much from North Star I would work for them if pay was more and benefits because u can learn so much more from working with individuals with disabilities they likes dislikes , Hand sign language, what makes them happy and what not to do to upset them treats them with care and love if u ask me

This is the most dangerous, unethical, poorly managed facility I have ever seen with the highest turnover of nursing staff. In addition it is a hostile workplace that destroys moral in staff. They do not change poor patient care and/or neglectful practices, they work on ways to cover up these issues.

North star prepared me for future careers.Work culture is very stressful at times. Need to be able to handle children that have been though a lot in there short life. Need to be able to handle sad and disturbing stories. Need to have a heart and actually care about the children there.

Typical workday could include a variety of tasks and hours. May be from surveyors to corporate responsibilities. Gained tremendous knowledge from the health information management department to environment of care.

after working there for 2 months, they decided they no longer needed me full time, so they cut me to part time, told me they would work on getting it back to full time, but to no avail... once i quit, they hired someone else full time... same thing happened to him

The atmosphere is definitely that of a mental hospital. There is children acting out, banging on the walls, yelling, cursing and destructive behavior. Management is clueless at how to keep the good employees and the bad employees leave after a couple of weeks as well. There is such high turnaround they cannot keep nurses as compensation is not competitive.

During a typical work day I will receive about 4-10 Release of information requests. Depending on if I have charts to audit or file I will continue working on release of information's. We also go up on to the floor to work with the kids and file documents into the patient charts.

I worked as a Mental Health Specialist II on a pool schedule, meaning I was not a full-time employee, I was able to make my own schedule. However, due to a high need I was able to work full-time hours plus a ton of overtime.

Flexible, lots of opportunities to move shifts experience new units. Shifts are long fast paced based on patient acuity. Lots of thinking on your feet, guiding staff based on interventions and adjusting care based on patients illness and treatment plan.

Wokring at Northstar has been one of the greatest challenging jobs I've had and i enjoyed every minute of it. Working with behavioral kids can be very challenging. Learning how to be patient and being able to be that person to help guide them in the right path of life or to be a better person, it is the best job.

A typical day at work would begin early in the morning. Myself and my co-workers would come in and get the patients up and ready for the day. We would guide through different daily and therapeutic activities. We would counsel the patients as needed and help them with coping skills. This was a very rewarding and enjoyable job. I worked with the best staff in the world at this job!

This was the most satisfying and rewarding job in mental health I have had. Each and every day was different, much like Centennial Peaks. I never knew what I was going into in regards to the patients, however when speaking on behalf of my co-workers I knew what to expect. That was support, positive attitudes, teamwork, understanding and creativity. This included the management team. I felt that I was able to go do management with any issues and they would be resolved in a way that would consider all those involved and to make everyone happy or satisfied with the decision. The safety of the patients was the priority as well as maintaining a therapeutic environment. Working with challenging and difficult youth was the hardest part of the job. Some of the rewards were hearing the youth tell me thank you for helping them or when they would write me thank you notes or the younger children drawing me pictures and getting excited to see me walk onto the unit. Working at North Star was a great experience and I would recommend anyone to work there or if they needed treatment for their children.

Pros

free meals, great positive environment, room for advances in my career, requested time off was easy to attain, loved the population I worked with, co-workers were supportive, positive, and easy to get along with, management took pride in their work.

Cons

not enough staff at times of crisis, short breaks on extended shifts, admitting patients when the units are full

There is no typical day at work when managing at-risk adolescent males, however what was typical was the level of skill, care and positive disposition of my co-workers. To maintain a high level of effectiveness as a treatment facility, teamwork was an absolute must and I believe this happened daily. This effort helped each of us make a difference in the lives of many youth.

Pros

Helping at-risk youth and professional development

Cons

Realizing that dispite all our efforts, not all of the youth will make better choices.